PAYT Bulletin: Summer 2002

The PAYT Bulletin is designed to help solid
waste planners and others get the latest pay-as-you-throw news and events.
Use the links below to read articles from the Summer 2002 issue. To review
other issues of the Bulletin, use the links on the right side of
this page.

PAYT Helps Cities Protect Climate

Most city officials know that the beneficial increases in recycling
and composting from their PAYT programs help relieve the burden
on landfills and lessen the demand for raw materials to manufacture
new products. What many may not yet know, however, is that PAYT
also can have an even more important environmental benefitnamely
reducing emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane
that contribute to global climate change. By encouraging waste prevention
and recycling, PAYT programs help reduce greenhouse gas emissions
associated with the manufacture, distribution, use, and subsequent
disposal of products.

By providing a monetary incentive for households and businesses
to recycle more and dispose of less materials, PAYT programs help
cities reduce their impact on the climate in three important ways:

Limiting the demand for virgin materials and the energy required
to harvest, process, and manufacture products from these sources.
Reducing energy use decreases the burning of fossil fuels, resulting
in fewer carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions.

Reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators,
which results in less methane emissions.

The
good news is, the PAYT/Climate Change connection is gaining increased
recognition, thanks to pioneering cities all across the country.
More than 100 cities and counties in the United States are demonstrating
that reducing global climate change requires local solutions like
PAYT, by participating in the International Council for Local Environmental
Initiatives' (ICLEI) Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) Campaign.
Cities participating in the CCP Campaign commit to developing and
implementing a greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan that covers
all local activities that contribute to the production of climate-warming
gases.

In 2000, cities participating in the CCP Campaign prevented 7 million
tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. Cities participating
in the CCP program, including San Francisco, California; Seattle,
Washington; and Austin, Texas, all have reaped ancillary climate
protection benefits from their PAYT programs and expect continued
or increased benefits in the future. Highlights of these cities'
programs follow:

San Francisco, which has had a PAYT program in place since 1932,
will divert an additional 160,000 tons of discards from the landfill
each year by the end of 2003 after implementing several new PAYT
programs, including PAYT programs for construction and demolition
(C&D) debris and commercial recyclables, according to the
city's Solid Waste Management Program. ICLEI is helping San Francisco
calculate the amount of greenhouse gases avoided through the city's
PAYT waste management programs.

The Seattle City Council recently completed a greenhouse gas
inventory and determined that the city's PAYT program provides
a significant benefit to the climate. According to Heidi Wills,
chair of the city council's Energy and Environmental Policy Committee,
"Without Seattle's PAYT recycling program, the city's greenhouse
gas emissions would likely be triple what they are now by 2010."

Austin Energy, the city of Austin's municipal utility, completed
an analysis that showed that the city's landfill gas emissions
were an important source of greenhouse gas emissions for the city.
According to Roger Duncan, vice president of Austin Energy, "PAYT,
along with recycling education, has been a significant help in
reducing Austin's landfill greenhouse gas emissions."

For information on joining the CCP Campaign, contact Abby Young,
director of the U.S. CCP Campaign, at ICLEI at 510 540-8843.

Using PAYT To Educate
All Groups of Citizens

Learning From Penn Township's Success

Girl Carrying Recycling Bin to the Curb

Communities
with successful PAYT programs rely on a strong educational campaign
to captivate and mobilize residents into participation. Sometimes,
this education occurs through the local schools or municipal agency
campaigns. In other cases, one enthusiastic champion can make all
the difference.

The residents of Penn Township in central Pennsylvania have their
own unique environmental heroa Garbage Guardian. Gene Hejmanowski,
the environmental director for the township's municipal center and
a strong supporter of PAYT programs, first introduced PAYT to the
township in the early 1990s. A decade later, thanks to his dedication
and hard work, residents have diverted garbage going to local landfills,
from 3,900 tons in 1990 to 2,600 tons in 2000. This substantial
decrease occurred despite a 30 percent growth in population and
earned the township thousands of dollars in state grant money.

Penn Township is a small community of about 14,500 people, but
it has made significant PAYT accomplishments and can serve as a
model for communities of all sizes looking to start or expand a
PAYT program. According to Hejmanowski, the inherent fairness of
PAYT will benefit any city or town.

"I support PAYT because I believe that garbage should be treated
as a utilityyou pay for what you use," he said. "It's
the only way to be fair and equitable to the people."

Getting the buy-in from local leaders is crucial to a successful
PAYT program. Before he could introduce PAYT to Penn Township residents,
Hejmanowski had to persuade local elected officials to stand behind
the program. He knew that gathering the support of local leaders
would be a crucial first step to building a successful program,
because leaders could help incorporate PAYT into local law and promote
it to their constituents.

To convince officials of the program's benefits, Hejmanowski surveyed
the trash composition in several different regions of the township
and recorded each area's demographics, how many trash cans each
household used, and the type and amount of recyclable materials
each household threw away. He presented his findings to local officials,
telling them that if they wanted to help the environment, they needed
to provide people with some incentive to keep recyclables out of
their garbage bags.

Once he had the local government's support, Hejmanowski worked
with officials to develop and implement PAYT. The program requires
residents to purchase customized garbage bags and imposes a weight
limit on each bag. Three months before the official start of the
program, Hejmanowski began a concentrated public education campaign
to engage residents. He held a series of town meetings and spoke
at school assemblies and PTA meetings. A local radio station also
invited him to host several editions of its daily hour-long call-in
show on community issues.

Ongoing Educational Efforts
When the program started, Hejmanowski began conducting long-term
education and enforcement efforts in the community. Currently, he
circulates a PAYT newsletter in the spring, summer, and fall, and
runs recycling education programs for schools, senior citizens,
and new residents. He also surveys the garbage composition in selected
residential districts each year between April and October and leaves
door hanger messages to inform people if they have problems or to
congratulate them for compliance.

"The door hangers often serve more for education than enforcement
because a lot of people don't realize that you can recycle certain
items," Hejmanowski said. "They are grateful for being
informed."

To help residents increase their diversion rate, the township collects
yard trimmings for composting, runs a recycling drop-off center,
and holds free collection drives for holiday wrapping paper, textiles,
and bulky items. Through enforcement and without additional taxes
on the citizens, the PAYT program generates enough money to cover
the costs of the program by selling PAYT bags and marketing the
collected recyclable materials. All other costs are covered by a
township recycling fund furnished by state grants awarded to local
governments that can prove they divert a significant amount of garbage
from landfills.

According to Hejmanowski, education also is the key component to
deterring illegal dumping. He regularly surveys rural areas of the
township and works to identify the culprit if he finds an illegally
dumped garbage bag. He also uses the newsletter and public presentations
to educate residents about the costs of illegal dumping.

"The success of your program depends on two things: a good
initial presentation and continued education at all levels of the
community," Hejmanowski said. "You also have to teach
people that although everyone might not benefit initially, in the
long run, PAYT is best for the majority of the township."

For more information on Penn Township's PAYT program, or for ideas
on how to promote PAYT in your community, contact Gene Hejmanowski
at 717 637-1561, or by e-mail at recycle@supernet.com.

Educational
Tools Working Best for Communities

Information on what makes recycling educational
programs work can help solid waste officials looking to start
up a PAYT program in their community find some measure of
success.

Recognizing the importance of measuring the
impacts of recycling education programs so these programs
are appropriately designed and funded, Skumatz Economic Research
Associates (SERA) undertook a study with the Econservation
Institute to understand the influence of education on recycling
and diversion levels in communities. The goals of the study
was to determine whether one can measure the educational impacts
of a recycling program, to determine their results and identify
optimal expenditure levels for education programs.

The key findings of the study include:

Residents' educational background has
a direct impact on recycling rates.

Educational and outreach programs can
help overcome existing socioeconomic challenges.

Educational methods that do the most to
increase recycling are newspapers and bill stuffers in
urban areas and brochures, billboards, and direct mailings
in rural areas. Television ads do not seem to lead to
increased recycling.

Door-to-door educational campaigns help
increase participation and materials recovery. They also
provide a forum for residents to voice their opinions
about the program and ask questions.

For more information, contact Lisa A. Skumatz,
Ph.D., principle of Skumatz Economic Research Associates,
at (303) 494-1178, or by e-mail at skumatz@serainc.com.

Dubuque Brings the
Whole Community Together through PAYT

Container Options for Dubuque's PAYT
Program

Getting the public involved from the start is key to running a
successful PAYT program. So when the city of Dubuque, Iowa, decided
to roll out a variable-rate pricing program for residential discards,
city officials took to the streets to talk to residents about what
would make it easiest for them to recycle. The city used the residents'
input to develop container options and other features for the PAYT
program it is launching this fall.

More than a year before the program was to begin, the city conducted
an extensive telephone survey so residents, landlords, and businesses
could talk about the facets they'd like to see in the program. "We
wanted community buy-in to make this program work," said Paul
Schultz, Dubuque's solid waste management supervisor. "We wanted
them to understand the benefits and options of unit-based pricing
before we launched our own program." Other outreach and educational
efforts during the planning phase included four television interviews
and six radio talk shows.

The city's careful attention to residents' needs helped encourage
public support. "The more we recycle, the betterand I've
learned that PAYT is a good way to get more people to recycle,"
said Dubuque resident Paul Newman, who has participated in the city's
recycling program for nearly 20 years.

The city also benefitted from experts' opinion when determining
key characteristics of the program. The PAYT workshop held by EPA
and attended by community officials in October 2001 (see Winter
2002 PAYT Bulletin) helped the city evaluate a wide variety
of container options. Some residents were concerned about animals
breaking through bags and scattering garbage in the streets, while
others were worried about heavy winds blowing cans and lids down
the street, or the area's frequent snowfall that makes it difficult
to maneuver large containers. At the workshop, attendees discussed
the pros and cons of each container option, reviewing the cost and
convenience of each method. In addition, city officials learned
about and used the RateMakerTM software program, which
helps cities develop a variety of subscription options.

Dubuque offers its residents a wide range of container and fee
options, including a standard monthly fee of $7.20 per month for
a single 35-gallon container. An additional 35-gallon container
costs $4.33 more per month, and 50-gallon wheeled carts for holding
3 trash bags for manual unloading cost $9 per month. In a pilot
project for businesses and multiplexes, cart tippers for 65-gallon
and 95-gallon containers cost $17 and $25 per month, respectively.

Challenge: Illegal Dumping
Dubuque also developed a strong educational campaign on illegal
dumping through its Interdepartmental Garbage Task Force, which
includes representatives from the police; the city's Housing, Planning,
Operations & Maintenance division; and the Health Services department.
Task force representatives all have access to a database that lets
them track locations where illegal dumping and other garbage problems
occur. The city is working with local police to refine options to
enforce and expand illegal dumping laws, which will be enacted in
September, when the program is running.

The city's main goal, however, "is to give people disposal
options so they don't turn to illegal dumping," Schultz said.
Expanding its "bulky item" pickup to a year-round program
and reducing the cost is one way Dubuque hopes to reduce instances
of illegal dumping.

More Information

For more information on how your city can use the RateMakerTM software to set up a PAYT program, contact John Gibson at 206 264-1958, or by e-mail at johnamygibson@msn.com.

Under the program, residents can now set out bulky items and excessive
itemsup to the equivalent of 30 bags of garbagefor a
minimum charge of $8. For large appliances, such as an oven, the
program charges $10 for the first appliance, and $9 for each additional
appliance. The city also has a location where residents can drop
off household hazardous waste and is publishing a Garbage Guide
listing local opportunities to reduce, reuse, recycle, and repair
a variety of household discards.

Thanks to PAYT, San Jose Increases C&D Debris Diversion

The city of San Jose awarded a $200,000 grant to carpet recycler
Material Recovery LLC, one of the city's certified facilities.
This facility recovers more than 50 percent of the 10,000
tons of carpet disposed of annually in the city.

While traditional PAYT programs focus on increasing recycling of
residential discards, an innovative PAYT program in San Jose, California,
has gone beyond household garbage to target construction and demolition
(C&D) debris. Through one program, the largest U.S. city with
a PAYT program has built a local market for C&D debris recycling
technologies, while helping the city meet the state's 50 percent
landfill diversion mandate.

The Construction & Demolition Diversion Deposit Program (CDDD)
started in 1998, after the city of San Jose found that C&D debris
made up 31 percent of waste sent to area landfillsthe largest
single material going to landfills. City staff and consultants estimated
that the city landfilled nearly 160,000 tons of C&D waste annually
but that 50 to 70 percent of this waste could be recovered. The
city used EPA's report, Characterization of Building-Related
Construction and Demolition Debris in the United States, in
developing its approach. "Without the EPA report, we would
have wasted a lot of time reinventing the wheel," said Stephen
Bantillo, CDDD program manager at the city's Environmental Services
Department, Integrated Waste Management Division.

To make sure the program would run smoothly, the city convened
focus groups and held stakeholder meetings with contractors and
homebuilders associations before implementing the program. "Our
partnerships and communication with builders, waste haulers, and
processors have been key to launching a successful program,"
Bantillo said. "Residents and businesses really use our programs
and contribute to the city achieving its goals. The San Jose community
is very interested in recycling, and that makes our jobs easier."

Bantillo and his staff members have their own vision for success.
"We will consider the program a success when waste diversion
and recycling happens automatically, without oversight," he
said.

To recover C&D debris, the city expanded its PAYT program to
offer incentives to both C&D debris generators and waste handlers.
For generators, the city designed a "diversion deposit"
plan. Under this program, when the city issues a permit to a contractor
or developer for building, demolition, or remodeling, the city collects
a deposit from the project's general contractor based on the square
footage and type of project. Once the project is complete, the contractor
receives an amount of the deposit back based on how much waste was
diverted.

"We know that the simpler the recycling process is, the more
people will be inclined to use it," Bantillo said. So the city
made the program as hassle-free as possible, with minimal paperwork
and a simple administrative process that benefits building contractors
as well as city staff members.

Building a Market
To encourage C&D debris diversion, city-certified C&D debris
processing facilities must divert at least 90 percent of C&D
debris from disposal. Facilities that accept mixed C&D debris
must divert 50 percent from disposal. The city give contractors
and haulers a list of 22 certified facilities and encourages them
to take their C&D debris to these sites, which both brings in
business to the certified facilities and ensures that the contractor
receives a full refund.

In addition, the CDDD Program awards grants to waste processing
facilities that enhance diversion through investments in technologies
or equipment, including water separation systems, air knives, and
mixed debris sorting lines. The Guadalupe Landfill, for example,
used a grant for $140,000 to invest in a mechanical and hand-sorting
line that can process 200-plus tons per day, effectively expanding
its C&D debris processing capabilities.

Builders also use alternative construction methods to divert C&D
debris from disposal. For example, builders using recovered materials
on a construction project will reduce the amount of waste that would
otherwise be generated and also further ensure the return of a contractors'
deposit. Once they finish a project, contractors submit the receipts
from the certified waste processing facilitiesor other evidence
of waste diversionwith their refund request. So far, the city
has not refused any refund requests.